Getting to Know… Ryan David Orr | Interview 🎤

In the 283^rd Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from solo artist Ryan David Orr.

“I

don’t easily settle for a lyric or a melody – I usually end up pushing it until I really like the song.” Tell us more, 🎙 Ryan David Orr! He expounds on his answer to our first burning question, asserting, “I try to stay objective when I create so that I can perceive a song from an audience perspective… I feel that what audiences connect with when they hear my music is the quality of the lyricism in relation to how the words are used in conjunction with the melody.” Woo! That’s a mic 🎤 drop 💧 right there! Like our many other Getting to Know Q&As, we get the inside scoop on Mr. Orr:  his beginnings, goals, musical influences, and of course, current, and future musical endeavors. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into 🎤 Getting to Know… Ryan David Orr: Interview No. 283!

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For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes you distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 I think one of my greatest talents is song craftsmanship. I don’t easily settle for a lyric or a melody – I usually end up pushing it until I really like the song. I try to stay objective when I create so that I can perceive a song from an audience perspective. As a result, I feel that what audiences connect with when they hear my music is the quality of the lyricism in relation to how the words are used in conjunction with the melody. So, whether it is a soft, solo acoustic song, or a full-band rock anthem, I feel the presentation of the lyrics, their meaning, and how they are sung is collectively one of the most appealing things about my craft.

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Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did your music career begin and what were some of the goals or visions you had early on?

🎤 I started writing original stuff when I was a teenager, but it took a while for me to like anything I was writing. At that time, I was most excited about the idea of being in a band, and that stayed true for a number of years. It wasn’t until my mid-twenties, after being in or leading a series of bands, that I realized I wanted to pursue more of a solo musical career. It has been an interesting decision at times because my musical interests are quite varied, so I still write big band rock songs sometimes, so I have to keep working with other musicians. My goal has always been to write, record, and perform music that people connect with, and feel is authentic.

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Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 My goals have certainly changed over the years. When I started out, I wanted to be a big rock star and headline arenas like all teenagers with guitars hope for. Over the years, I have refined my sound and my approach, as well as my definition of happiness or fulfillment, so my goal now is to simply create music I am proud of and send it out into the world. I want to play quality venues and perform for receptive crowds. I think I realize now that what I “do” doesn’t even really happen in big rock arenas, so I have put more focus on trying to be a well-rounded human and try to stay inspired to create. I know from experience that there is an audience for my music, so I intend to keep putting it in front of them:)

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Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Whom would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 Whenever people ask who my influences are, I usually start out by mentioning Pearl Jam. Now, I loved them rabidly as a teenager, and that passion held on through my twenties. At this point, I don’t really listen to them a lot, but they were a huge influence on my music. I was always a fan of Eddie Vedder’s lyrics and vocal presentation. People often say that I sound like Eddie Vedder – this was the greatest of compliments when I was 18, but now it’s more like something I just can’t get away from rather than something intentional. Radiohead is another major influence, mostly because throughout the 90s and early 2000s they were pushing the boundaries of what rock music is, and I was also heavily influenced by Thom Yorke’s lyrics and melodies. Tori Amos’s Under The Pink album was life-changing for me, and her lyrics and musicianship were a huge influence on my sound. I was also greatly influenced by Tool, specifically the Aenima album. Every time I listen to that record I hear something I didn’t notice before, which I am sure is the result of their collaboration with Sylvia Massey. Another, slightly obscure influence for me was Richard Buckner. He is an indie-folk artist who does great things with words and takes liberties with their usage. I used to live just north of New York City for a couple of years, and during that time, I got really inspired by the slam poetry scene and the underground, bohemian artist scene. My soundtrack for that was the album Black on Both Sides by Mos Def (now Yasiin Bey), and his lyricism and natural flow were infectious. I have hundreds of influences, really, but these are some that stick out more than others.

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Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

🎤 Ha! Good question:) Let me preface this by saying that none of this is made up… About 10 years ago, I was doing a small east coast tour and I had a couple of shows in New York. One of the shows was at The Bitter End, which is a music venue with a stellar history of performers from the folk scene like Bob Dylan, so I was super psyched to perform there. I was running late by the time I got into town, so I scrambled to find a parking spot as close as possible, then I lugged my guitar and pedalboard a few blocks to the venue. The show went well, the venue was cool, and all that was fine. However, when I went to get my car afterward, it was gone. My first thought was that it was stolen, but upon inspecting the street signs near where I parked, I realized that I had parked illegally. The car I was driving had been my mother’s car (she had recently passed away), so it had her personalized vanity license plates: “Dr. Teri”. It was easy to remember, so I got out my phone and went online to search the NYPD database for impounded cars. Sure enough, that license plate popped up and I found that the car had been towed to a lot in a pier on the upper west side of Manhattan. As luck would have it, I was on the lower east side. To make matters worse, it was impossible to find a taxi in the area of town I was in. This was around 11 PM on a Friday night, which meant 2 things: I wouldn’t be able to find a taxi unless I was on a more major street (miles away), and if I didn’t get my car back by midnight, I would be stranded until Monday. I am generally a fairly mellow person, but this got me freaking out a bit. As I swiftly walked the empty street in the direction of the west side, I came across a rent-a-bike vending machine. It seemed like the best option at the moment, so I whipped out my credit card and unlocked one of the bikes, frantically peddling away into the night. After about a half hour of riding, I made it to the Hudson Parkway, which lines the west side of the island, and began heading north along the water. I finally made it to the impound and stashed the bike in the bushes. Inside, I spoke with the front desk clerk, who asked for my ID and issued a series of questions. It was a 2004 Subaru Forester I told him, white, with a sunroof. He scanned the database and pulled up the info, regretfully informing me that the car’s registration had expired a few days earlier, and without valid registration, they couldn’t give me my car. I asked if they would let me have the car if I went online to the Arizona Department of Transportation website and renewed the registration. He said yes, but I needed to hurry because they were closing down in about 10 minutes. But that wasn’t the only reason I needed to hurry – at this point, my phone had about a 3% charge and was going to die any second, with my only charger nestled safely in the console of the car I was trying to retrieve. So, I surfed and typed as fast as I could, went to the website, found my registration, put in my credit card info, got a confirmation for the payment, and my phone went immediately dark. It had happened just in time, and the good officers of New York let me have my car back. I stopped outside the pier, grabbed the hidden bicycle from the bushes and packed it in the back of the car, then went on a brisk evening drive to find a rent-a-bike return station. I have never been so happy to return a bicycle. The moral of the story is vanity plates ARE good for something.

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Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?  

🎤 There may be a few, but off the top of my head, it’s the song 🎵 “Nothing More Than Love”. It’s a melodic folk song that deals with someone accepting themselves and living their truth. It’s a song that I love to sing. I have also, on many occasions, had audience members come up to me after shows in tears and ask how they can get a copy of that song. I think it’s something that people can relate to and that is moving for them emotionally.

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Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?  

🎤 I’m not sure if there will be consensus on the awesomeness of this tidbit, but I am a lover of academia and higher education. I am a college English professor; I have a Master of Arts in English and I have put a lot of my time into studying written communication and literature. Additionally, I have a degree in Film and Media Studies, and I write/direct/film my music videos, which are all available to watch on my YouTube channel  I also have a fairly high tolerance for alcohol, but my wife keeps telling me that’s not really a talent.

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Closing out, what is … currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

🎤 Well, I (and my bandmates) are pretty excited to have recently released the single 🎵 “Dystopia”. I will be working with The Animal Farm to release a series of singles over the next year or so as well. These will all be available to stream on Spotify or wherever people get their streaming music. I am also finishing and releasing my 10th album very soon. I have worked on this one over the past 2 years, and I am excited to finally have it completed. It will be released on CD and Vinyl, and then later on streaming services. I am also in the process of filming/editing a music video for one of the songs from the album, and we will submit that to film festivals once it is complete. And of course, if folks want updates on the upcoming projects, they can follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook or sign up for my monthly newsletter at http://www.ryandavidorr.com/!

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Getting to Know… Ryan David Orr: Interview No. 283 [📷: Alfred Derks from Pixabay, Brent Faulkner, Darkmoon_Art from Pixabay, The Musical Hype, Ryan David Orr]

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